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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Yesterday before we came home, we drove out to Craig’s uncle new house to visit Craig’s cousin Tim and his family who were in from South Carolina. The kids played with Emily & Anna and their cousin Tate who made the trip with them.

On Sunday, the 27th, we drove up to Arkansas to see Craig’s Aunt Ann and her family. It’s just 2 hours from Monroe so we can go visit and come back in the same day. We ate lunch with everyone…Aunt Ann, Uncle Leo, Craig’s cousin Randy from Colorado, Craig’s cousin Terri, and her daughter Morgan…even Paw, LaLa, Granny, and Uncle Chris drove up to have lunch, but they had to leave early because LaLa had to work. After lunch, we visited and the kids played…they got to play with some puppies that Craig’s cousin Terri brought over. Carolyn really enjoyed holding the puppy and she was very gentle, unlike Miriam who kept lugging the puppy around. Group shot before we left with Aunt Ann, Uncle Leo, Craig’s cousin Terri & Randy

The day after Christmas we drove to Monroe to spend time with Daddy’s family. We had lunch at Paw’s house and opened presents. After nap time, we went to visit GG (Craig’s MawMaw) at the nursing home. In the cafeteria area, there’s a cappuccino & hot chocolate machine. The hot chocolate was out so the kids got cappuccino. Carolyn, their cousin, was able to join us for the day. So with her there, we had 6 kids ages 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

Luke told me there was a bunny in the courtyard and I needed to take a picture. I just let him take it instead. Group shot with GG, Aunt Earlene, and Uncle Chris. Afterwards, we went to Johnny’s Pizza for supper because it’s right next to her nursing home.

I didn’t end up taking very many pictures on Christmas day. I don’t even have one of Cameron. I hope Aunt Laura got some!

PawPaw & his girls Luke reading part of the Christmas story from Luke 2 Luke wearing the shirt that I got for Daddy Micah amongst a pile of presents Levi with his tall present Luke catching a ride with the neighbor on her new scooter

I normally take my kids to a studio to take a picture in their dressy Christmas outfits. However, this year I thought I would just try to do it myself since I have my new Nikon. As you can tell, it didn’t turn out to well…I don’t think there’s one that I could use to frame. But I did try to take these in a hurry before we headed out to the Christmas Eve service at church. My favorite one is this one…it wasn’t working having them try to look at me…so I told them to look at each other.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Greetings family and friends! Like last year, we would like to tell you a little about what everyone did this year.

Craig (37) – He enjoyed helping coach Luke and Cameron in T-Ball again, and flag football at the YMCA in the fall. He continued to work on his teaching skills with them on the tennis court as well. At Parkview, he sang with the Praise Team and Choir, worked with the Children’s Choir, and served on the Parkview School Board. In August, he had the opportunity to attend a men’s conference titled “His Man on His Mission” at Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile with his brother Chris.

Candi (34) – She is busy homeschooling the kids and continues to blog about homeschool activities and everyday family life. This year she became interested in photography after participating in the Mommytography 365 project, and started a photography blog to highlight some of her favorite photos. She also found out at Thanksgiving that she is expecting our 6th child in July.

Luke (6½) – He is in 2nd grade this year and continues to thrive in math and reading. He is still very interested in football and sports, and will be playing Upward Basketball starting in January. This summer he participated in 2 week-long camps at Parkview. One was a Children’s Choir camp called “Art-Is-In,” where he played the part of a “Newsie.” The other was a basketball camp called “Full Court Press.” Luke has enjoyed the Wednesday night church activities where he has learned all the divisions of the Bible, some memory verses, and key Bible passages.

Cameron (5) – He is in Kindergarten this year and is in the process of learning to read. This summer he had the opportunity to go to a week-long horse camp at Meadowview Stables, which is located behind our house. He learned how to ride three different ways: Western, Bareback, and English. This year Cameron became a lot more interested in football as well.

Both Luke and Cameron played T-ball in the spring at Parkview and flag football in the fall at the YMCA. They also got to attend a lot of football games (high school & LSU) with Daddy.

Miriam (3½) – She has started to do some preschool work while the big boys do their school work. She continues to love “girly” things like bows, jewelry, shoes, and purses. She even got her ears pierced for her birthday. Currently she enjoys playing with baby dolls, having tea parties, and trying to boss the boys around.

Levi (2½) – He also does some preschool work with Miriam and has done a great job at learning his shapes, colors, and numbers. He’s still a mama’s boy and loves his “boo”dog. His favorite activity is to play the puzzle game on Mommy’s iPhone.

Micah (1½) – In May, Micah celebrated her 1st birthday with a princess/knight party with Levi. She took her sweet time on learning to walk, and decided to accomplish it while we were on vacation at the beach. She continues to be content as long as she can suck her two middle fingers, but has become a big trouble-maker now that she is more mobile.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year, and please do not forget the reason for it in all the busyness. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17

Monday, December 14, 2009

Sunday afternoon we went to the Jones Creek Christmas Parade. Here are some of the highlights

Luke marched in the parade with his upward basketball team. He doesn’t have a jersey yet, because we signed him up late. But he bounced his basketball all the way down Jones Creek and he said he only lost it once. He really enjoyed it and didn’t even seem to mind that he didn’t know anyone. Cameron was into it and would wave his hands! Miriam racked up on the jewelry and she even got a baby doll! Levi wasn’t sure at first, but once he realized that you got candy, he liked it! Guess who really liked it? She ate candy…paper and all! Daddy got his Saints beads and he kept track of the game on his phone. When you saw the street sweeper coming, you knew it was over!